I've spoken about the physical benefits of being resilient before including the negative impact of stress on the body. But how do we manage stress?
As with everything resilience based, it’s not about avoiding stress but how you respond to it. Imagine a stressful situation like cycling up a steep hill. You can’t control the weather, the pot holes in the road or the gradient of the climb. What you can control though, is how you decide to tackle it!
So when you feel stress hitting, think of these 3 steps
1. Stop and breathe:
Take a moment to breathe, get some perspective and make sure you don’t react impulsively.
2. Break it down:
I’ve mentioned the term chunking before, but it doesn’t just need to be for a 20,000 mile cycle journey! So when stress hits, it helps to focus in on the next manageable chunk you can complete.
3. Focus on what you CAN control:
You can’t control everything. Just your response. So put all your energy into what you can influence, and forget the rest.
With these 3 steps you'll find that you can reduce stress on your body in difficult situations. It can be difficult at first to start using them. Keep at it though and soon you'll be able to flex your 'manage stress' muscles 💪
Remember too, that resilience is built over time. Through every setback and every stressful day you are improving. So you don’t need to be perfect, you just need to keep going!
Try this technique next time you feel stress levels rising and let me know how it goes! If you have any other techniques for dealing with stress write them down in the comments!!
*Pictured - Incredibly stressful situation where my tyre completely tore in the middle of a national park in Peru. With a few deep breathes and by focusing on what I could control, I managed to sow the tyre back together and keep going. With a little help from some of the local donkey population as well!
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